Call it the “Daddy Wars.” One Los Angeles blogger sparked them when a photo he posted of himself and his two daughters on Twitter and Facebook quickly went viral. A father of two Doyin Richards (pronounced Doe-ween), 39, is currently taking a paternity leave of absence from his job in learning development to care for his daughters, ages 6 months and 2 years. Hedescribed the incident on his blog.

“One morning, [my wife] was running late for work and was worried that she wouldn’t be able to get [my daughter’s] hair done before I had to take her to school. I told her that she could leave and I’d handle it. She countered by saying that doing her hair requires attention and the baby would get upset if I left her alone while I played the role of stylist. Again, I told her that I’d handle it. On the way out she said, ‘I’ll believe it when I see it.'” Still determined, Richards placed his infant into her carrier and “worked my hair magic.” He also set up his camera, enabled its 10-second timer, and snapped a photo to prove to his wife that he could handle the job.

Richards had originally posted the photo on his website back in October, with an accompanying post titled, “I Have a Dream: That People Will View a Picture Like This and Not Think It’s a Big Deal.” But in late December, he reposted it, and on Monday, the fatherhood blog The Good Men Project picked it up.

In a matter of hours, the photo went viral, quickly amassing nearly 5,000 shares, 3,000 comments, and 190,000 likes, along with a slew of mean-spirited remarks, such as “He probably rented those kids. They don’t even look like him,” and “I would bet anything that you’re a deadbeat.”